Next stop was Potosi, the highest city in the world at 4060 metres above sea level. Again the altitude nausea set in so we all chewed on coca leaves like there was no tomorrow. Potosi has a strange feel to it. The city itself is quite pretty in parts…..

 

…..but is shadowed by Cerro Rico, a stripey mountain where silver was mined for many years. These days miners still work long, long days to extract minerals. I think there is an underlying feeling of hard work and sadness due to the incredible 8 million miners whose lives have been snatched by Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain) since 1545. We got a chance to don our wellies…….

……..and check out the mine itself but first stopped at the miners market along the way……..

 

……….to buy coca leaves (they mush up the coca leaves, put them to side of their mouth and by the time they dissolve they know their working shift is over – neat!!), 97% alcohol (to be explained later), cigarettes and biscuits for the miners families. We also got to buy dynamite to give to the first class minors. Our guide kindly let us blow up a stick of it before we went into the mines!!!! Excellent!! Who in the right mind would give me dynamite????

 

The mines themselves are a death trap…..

 

….. so hard to believe that they are not mapped and it seems that no one knows what going on in different parts of the mine at any one time so it is a catastrophe waiting to happen. We didn’t go that far down, maybe 10 or 15 metres deep but we went a few kilometres in and got to live the experience, for a little while anyway. Such a tough life though, even in the present day the life expectancy for a miner is 35!!

The miners also worship, Tio, the devil, who is said to protect them. Every week they offer coca leaves, cigarettes and 97% alcohol (pure alcohol in exchange for pure minerals) at the shrines of Tio.

 

We did the same and of course the paddy here had to drink some of the alcohol – shudder!! Thankfully the rest I left at the shrine. This mine is only one example of the sadness that exists in Bolivia and of the huge divide between rich and poor.

Had a little explore around Potosi that afternoon and that night we surprised Simon (spent days whispering and convincing him to celebrate his birthday later on in the trip!!) for his big 3-0!!!

Had a great night……..

……..ending with Lindy’s extreme uncontrollable giggles – on the way to the pub, all the way home, brushing my teeth, getting into bed, etc, etc, etc. Not sure why I’ve started with the giggling….hmmmmm.

 

Anyhoo the next stop was Uyuni and the Salt Flats. The Salt Flats and Lake Titicaca are the remains of a sea that existed in this area of Bolivia. I can honestly say I’ve never been somewhere so striking in my life! My day started kinda weirdly with requesting a spin on a unicycle but I had to get up on this guy’s shoulders first…..

 

…….scary or what?! Managed to pedal a little by myself but I think I’m not coordinated enough and felt much safer with my feet back on terra firma!!

Headed off to the Salt Flats after that but first stopped at a train cemetery where we played around for a while……

…….. then it was off to a market and museum. Of course EVERYTHING is made of salt. The buildings, tables, chairs, beds, sculptures, souvenirs, etc, etc. 

Salar de Uyuni are about 12,000 square miles and are the remains of a sea which went all the way up to Lake Titicaca. The flats, Lake Titicaca and Lake Poopo are the remains of this sea. Of course it looks more like snow fields today which makes the scenery spectacular but also makes lots of fun trick shots possible……

……come on Lindy, don’t lag behind 🙂 Now I have to subject you to some of my favourite photos from here, such as this……

and this…….

and this……. 

AND this……

When we got bored of doing trick shots, we generally just jumped around like kids in the snow….

Such a fun day……

and if you’re not bored to bits already, there are so many more great photos on my flickr site. 

So we finished our day crunchy with salt and recovered in the Salt hotel where we took in a nice sunset…….

…..and also celebrated Ali’s birthday over a nice traditional Bolivian meal…….

After a night in the hotel (with no electricity) I had expected that I’d be itching to get back to civilisation but I was surprisingly calm. We headed off to Fish Island, which is an island in the salt flats shaped like a fish but is in fact covered in enormous cacti……

Climbed to the top of the island and took in the great views of Salar de Uyuni.

Of all I’ve seen so far on my travels, this was one of my highlights.

The landscape here is just amazing and completely mesmerising.

Had a stroll across the flats with some atmospheric Massive Attack on my ipod and found that I was pretty relaxed for the second time in as many weeks.

You know you’ve found somewhere really special when you try to burn the image into your brain and when you don’t want to leave. Had a blast for the two days on the Salt Flats and remained completely impressed with Bolivia as we prepared to leave for Peru.

More photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157615907763869/    http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157616188432796/